Dodgers Put Own Stamp on First Place

You can hear the whispers among the scouts watching in the stands. The opposing teams have noticed it already. The Dodgers talk about it quietly among themselves.

Bill Russell may be only the interim Dodger manager, but as long as he’s on the job, he’s going to run the show in his style, and the impact has been staggering.

The Dodgers, calling it ‘Billy Ball,’ once again unveiled their new style of play, pounding the San Diego Padres, 7-3, in front of a paid 28,294 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“We’re playing our kind of baseball now,” Dodger second baseman Delino DeShields said. “We’re playing aggressive baseball, forcing teams into mistakes. You see what’s happening.

“Instead of sitting back, we’ve got teams playing on their heels. I tell you, it’s fun.”

You want aggressiveness? You want hit-and-run plays? You want steals? You want a suicide-squeeze?

Welcome to Billy Ball.

“The team has made a transition,” Dodger first baseman Eric Karros said. “They’ve adapted to Billy.”

If the San Diego Padres’ intentions were to make a statement this series, all they’ve accomplished is to perhaps make the Dodgers overconfident.

The Dodgers (44-40) have now beaten the Padres in seven of the last eight games, outscoring them 17-5 the last two nights. Suddenly, the Dodgers are back in sole possession of first place, one game ahead of the Padres and 2 1/2 games ahead of the Colorado Rockies.

“It’s like I told them,” Russell said. “You guys don’t know how good you are.”

The Dodgers, who have scored 45 runs and produced 66 hits the last four games, pulled off the shocker of the night in the second inning.

The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead when Greg Gagne hit a one-out triple off the glove of Padre Gold Glove center fielder Steve Finley. With backup catcher Tom Prince at the plate, Russell flashed the sign for a suicide squeeze.

The only other time the Dodgers have tried the play this season, on May 30 in Philadelphia, Prince popped into a double play.

This time, Gagne raced down from third base too soon. He was about four steps from home plate when Padre starter Fernando Valenzuela’s pitch reached Prince.

He laid down the bunt. Perfectly. Gagne slid home safely for a 3-0 lead.

“I heard someone yelling, ‘Squeeze, Squeeze,’ ” Prince said. “So I just tried to get my bat on the ball.”

Said Russell: “It could have been a disaster. It started out that way. But he was able to get the bat on the ball and everything turned out just fine.”

The Padres never again were the same.

The Dodgers coasted to a 6-0 lead by the seventh inning, winning effortlessly again, in perhaps the Padres’ most painful loss of the season.

The Padres, already without first baseman Wally Joyner, have third baseman Ken Caminiti playing with a painful shoulder that needs surgery in the off-season, and got the devastating news that all-star right fielder Tony Gwynn will be sidelined a minimum of four weeks because of a partially torn Achilles’ tendon.

Making the Padres feel worse, the Dodgers also won with all-star catcher Mike Piazza sitting out, center fielder Todd Hollandsworth kept out of the starting lineup after his career-high five-hit game, and No. 5 starter Pedro Astacio on the mound.

So what happens? Astacio (4-6) wins his first game on the road since July 22, 1995, Prince executes the picture-perfect suicide-squeeze, and right fielder Raul Mondesi gets three hits and drives in three more runs, giving him nine runs batted in during the last three games.

“‘Whew, those guys were wondering when was the last time I won a game,” said Astacio, who yielded eight hits and two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. Scott Radinsky and Chan Ho Park closed out the game for the Dodgers’ first back-to-back victories since June 22-23.

Then, of course, there’s Chad Fonville, who has returned to the starting lineup and ignited this sleeping offense. Fonville, playing center field on Tuesday, has started the last four games, batting leadoff, and the Dodgers have scored 45 runs while batting .398.

* GWYNN OUT: Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn will be out at least four weeks because of an Achilles’ tendon injury. C5.